This weekend was an absolute blast. A total spur of the moment, going on a whim solo adventure and it sure showed me a great city and a great time.
DISCLAIMER: for those wanting a pretty detailed and long winded recap of my weekend, read on. If not, I don't know, find a way to summarize it yourself.
Well, I officially decided to go to Prague at about 8pm Wednesday night. I booked my hostel, then had to run to the Hbf to book my train ticket because it wouldn't let me do it online because I wanted to take my bike with me. The train was leaving at 7am, just enough time to go to a friends house and watch some Champions League, go home and pack, then wake up and leave.
Long story short, I did all that, then got on the train headed towards the Czech Republic. I got to go through Leipzig and Dresden on the way, and they both seem like pretty cities, so I need to go visit them some time soon. From Dresden I hopped on the train to Prague. As soon as we got into the Czech Republic, the announcements were all in Czech. That was my first experience with an Eastern European/Slavic language, and it sounded very rhythmic, not quite musical, and in its own unique way, very fluid and kind of bubbly. All of this despite me having no clue what was being said...
Well the train ride to Prague was absolutely beautiful. We followed the Elbe (the same one that goes through Magdeburg) and weaved through a beautiful canyon region all the way to Prague. Then we arrived in the city and the fun adventuring began!
I got in about 2pm, went and checked in to my hostel, then got to walking around the Old Town. Here is where most of the well known churches and sights are. I saw the Astronomical Clock, Old Town Square, and went across the river to Petrín park. I eventually made my way across the river, and back to the hostel for a nap.
I did learn a good lesson during the afternoon: don't buy food from a stand in the most tourist-dense part of town. In Old Town Square, I was pretty hungry and thirsty. So foregoing my normally patient demeanor (HAH) I decided to indulge in some grub. I went to a food stand, selected a good potato salad, a beer, and some ham (that on their menu came to 150 crowns). Long story short they gave me a huge chunk of ham and said that was the only size they sold and I had to pay 730 crowns (~30€). I was pretty pissed off that I got duped into paying so much for some food. But on the bright side, the potato salad was absolutely delicious and the ham was completely amazing. Silver linings right?
When I woke up from my nap, I was greeted by some American girls living in the UK that were traveling through Prague for the night. We ended up going to a Pub Crawl our hostel told us about. I got to meet some more Americans, Canadians, and talk with some Swiss guys. Holy crap is Swiss-German impossible to understand. Well, we got to drink some good beer, and have a fun night bouncing around from different bars and clubs. Quote of the night came from one of the American girls after trying to take a picture in the first bar: "The best part of the that picture was YOUR BEARD!!!!" -Ashley. Enough said.
The next day I put on my walking shoes (read: flip flops) and hit the streets. Honestly, Old Town was sufficiently seen in an afternoon (for me at least...) so I went to the outside of the downtown area and saw a ton of things.
The first place I went to was a museum dedicated to the military history of the Czech Republic. This was a very interesting find, and it was in English, so a very interesting history lesson too! After that, I walked up the hill to be greeted by a beautiful view of the city. I kept hiking up a little further and was surprised by not just an even better view, but something even better.
At the top of a hill overlooking the whole city and valley is the Vitkov National Monument. It is a huge 16 ton statue of Jan Zizka on a horse atop a barren marble pedestal and courtyard, overlooking the entire city. I was absolutely in awe. I love big statues and structures like that. Seeing the Vitkov National Monument makes me want to see that giant woman statue (The Motherland Calls) in Volgograd, Russia. But yeah, Vitkov is officially my second favorite place in Prague.
In the same structure/park as the memorial, is the Czech Republic's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is actually directly underneath the statue of Jan Zizka, and is a pretty hallowing place. One cool thing they had here was soil from (I'm assuming) every conflict or war that their country has fought in or been a part of. This was pretty interesting to see, and goes back a long ways in time.
After the National Monument, I continued my trek through beautiful Prague. I made my way through a few parks, then past the National Museum, and a really big and beautiful square. In front of the museum is a memorial to Jan Palach. He committed suicide by self-immolation in 1964 to protest the communist rule in the country. It is a very subtle monument to a very strong event. Also there's another cool statue of a guy on a horse.
After that I continued my adventure, kept on walking. Passed some churches and cool buildings, went across the river, then explored a little more of Petrín park. I got up to the top of the hill and climbed up the tower there for a great view of a cloudy and foggy Prague. Despite the undesirable weather, it was a great view from the top!!! I came down from the tower, wandered around a bit, and then found my favorite place in Prague.
Simple enough, it's a park bench. But wait, this park bench has an amazing view of the city. I was a little tired, hungry, and thirsty when I found this awesome oasis, but let's just say it was awesome. I spent a good half hour just chilling out, getting some deep thinking in, and taking in the beautiful city.
Onward and upward!!! I walked another 200m and came to a Brewery. Not just any brewery, but a Monastery Brewery. BOOM BABY!!! Hunger and thirst were officially dominated in a very unmatched fight by a couple glasses of amber and a whopping plate of beef goulash and Czech dumplings. What an onslaught. And hot damn was it all delicious!!! And bonus points, I had a delightful chat with a sweet couple from Holland about Ohio, the program, Europe, and some other things. Absolutely delightful!
I did a little more walking around, saw some more sights, walked in the courtyard of Europe's largest castle and saw a cathedral that looked eerily like this one that I used to live near, and then headed back to the hostel, where I crashed pretty early.
Saturday was a biking kinda day. I took my bike with me, so I could do some more expansive exploration and get even further away from the beaten path. It worked out pretty ok.
Rewind a bit, Friday night I got an awesome little history lesson from my boy Zack, about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the nazi commander that was put in charge of Prague during WWII. Long story short, there was a group of Czech soldiers that were airlifted in, planned an assassination, executed it, and then were trapped in a church where they eventually took their own lives to prevent capture. There is a monument to these soldiers in the crypt of the church they were hiding out in. It was a very compelling story and it was awesome to see the pride and gratitude that this nation has in those men and the people that supported them to risk their lives to rid the city of such a heinous person. More on this sentiment to come.
Next I went back to my most favoritest place in Prague to see it with really good weather. It was worth it. It was beautiful.
Then I took a long detour to a little brewery I found out about by reading the tour description of a pretty expensive mountain biking tour that is offered by a bike shop in Prague. I figured why spend the money when a) I can get some exploring in trying to find the place and b) I won't have anyone telling me what to do? Turned out to be a win win.
Well my journey took me through small alleys, beautiful parks (with a surprising amount of rollerbladers), various canyons, desolate hills, open plains, and finally to Únéticky Pivovar. I sat down an accomplished man and indulged in some true Czech beer. Ahhhhhh success.
The way back I was pretty dead. I made the mistake of only indulging in the liquid nectar, and not the vittles. What a fool!!! I somehow managed to drag my way back to the hostel and plop down for a little nap before a beer tasting!
I met up with Elise, an awesome girl from Canada that I met on the pub crawl, and Jenn, a fellow Canuck that Elise met in the train station, for a beer tasting of some various Czech beers. We were guided through this liquid country tour by a cheery Irish guy named Gary. We had some good beers, good laughs, and I got two free pint glasses out of the night (thanks again for the help Elise :-) !!!). Not too bad.
The next morning I needed to do a little more sightseeing before my train left, so I headed south from the main city to what I heard was a big church on a big buttress. Well, I was not disappointed! A little bit of walking through town and over a big bridge, I got to the park, which seemed like a castle. Not only was it on a giant buttress, it also gave beautiful views of the whole city, and the surrounding valleys, and the river, and it was awesome.
With a little bit more walking and some frustrations with my bike, I made it to my train. It was sad to leave such a beautiful city after such a great weekend, but I hope to return soon!
My train followed the way that I came in, so I got to enjoy the beautiful river train ride again! I made my way to Dresden where I had an hour and a half layover between trains. There I met up with Trez, one of the dudes from the program that is living in Dresden and I got a little tour of the city! And some spicy currywurst, some real money spicy currywurst.
Well we got currywurst then wandered around the Altstadt and I got to see some beautiful architecture and some cool sights in this city. After a little bit of time, we started to head back to the train station, and it started to get a little too close for comfort. Long story short, I was running full sprint with my bags through Dresden, tripping over my bike, trying to get to my train. I threw my bike on board the train, after finding out it was at a different platform than what it was supposed to be, and not a minute later it started moving. Damn was that close.
Leaving Dresden I felt like I was in another dimension. The rush and stress of almost missing the train, trying to calm down after actually making it, then reading on the travel plan that the supposed departure time of this train is different than what it actually was. I was really confused and out of sorts for a while. But I eventually made it home and crashed on my bed.
That pretty much sums up my trip. It was awesome and relaxing, and a great way to see such a beautiful city! I met a lot of really nice people on the way. Not gonna lie, this trip helped me see how much I enjoy traveling alone. The freedom to do what and when you want, all of it is up to you. What a great trip!!!
I am dumbfounded at the fact that there are so many languages in this world. How the hell did that happen? Especially here in Europe, it is so evident and astounding. I can go from here in Magdeburg surrounded by the language I've been learning, 3 hours south and be completely in the dark of the language, culture, customs, everything. It's crazy!
In the USA, you'd never get that. Different dialects and regions, yeah. Like going to The South up to NYC, or Colorado to Tijuana (yeah I know Spanish is a different language...), but that's probably the closest you could get to something like that. There is so much diversity here. It is absolutely astounding to me, and definitely a big reason why I would love to stay in Europe after my program is done: there is so much to see!!!
Back to the languages. That really blows my mind. Imagine if every state in the US spoke a different language. That's what it feels like in Europe, except the states are countries. The way humans communicate and how the evolution of that has resulted in so many different languages is nuts.
This past weekend, I felt a lot of pride from the Czech people, but didn't hear any of it. It was all things that I saw or picked up on. It was not blatant and in your face. For example, in the church where the 6 paratroopers were hiding out during WWII after the assassination attempt, reading the plaques on the wall I could really get a strong feeling of unity, community, pride, and so many other feelings that these people had and have for the people of their country. That was pretty empowering to me to feel. Not only did I get this in Czech, but also in Belgium at the Bastogne WWI Memorial.
Something that kinda gets on my nerves is how vocal and forward we American's can be with our patriotism. 'MURICA, USA, all that stuff. Yes, I am proud to be an American, but that doesn't mean I need to shove it in people's faces.
Not sure where I'm going with this. I think the bottom line here is how honored and empowered I feel to feel the national pride of other countries. Every country has different histories, has had its good times and bad, and to see that the people of the world, no matter where they come from, still love their country and their people makes the world feel a little smaller. There really aren't all that many differences between we citizens of the world.
Well, I'm headed back out on the road with my pals Zack, Dawn, and Katherine. Round II of our Eurotrip is going to be through Poland! Updates next week of how the trip was!
I almost forgot!!! Still going like a champ. Thoughts are developing though. Not sure about the future long term...
Original Publish Date: October 29th, 2013